Chapter 288
Chapter 288
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 288
Chapter Title: Relocation (1)
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In Space Survival, both Mega Corp and Star Union ships can equip plasma weapons. That's because both factions originated from humanity in the Solar System.
That said, when you get into the specifics, their preferred gear differs slightly between the two.
Star Union tends to weaponize drones enhanced with advanced AI tech. Mega Corp, on the other hand, focuses primarily on energy-based weapons like lasers and plasma.
The massive spherical mining superweapon at my feet right now, the Gigacracker, is one of Mega Corp's energy-armed behemoths.
Its main armament is a colossal ion cannon, powerful enough to shatter asteroids or even meteorites.
'But the maintenance costs are insane.'
Every time the ion cannon fires, it consumes a specific material as fuel. Crystalwing—the one I hunted before—secretes a unique metal compound that's the energy source for these giant ion cannons. That's why Mega Corp players scour the stars with fire in their eyes for Crystalwing nests.
'Never thought I'd spot a Gigacracker out here.'
Given that it's parked in this empty void, it looks like they were trying to mine the irregular planetoid I'd chosen as my evolution spot.
Its size was so enormous it was visible from afar, so I was about to launch a preemptive strike when a thought struck me.
Superweapon assimilation.
Now that I'd reached Adult stage, my body had grown even larger than before, and thanks to the Dragon Heart implant, my energy output had surged dramatically. If I could seize that ship with Nightmare Horizon, it'd be a huge asset in battles against tough foes.
Even if assimilation failed, it wouldn't matter.
A Gigacracker was far more useful and powerful than some pirate junker. Sure, as a mining vessel, its secondary armaments were nothing special, but it had that ion cannon. Snagging it was a no-brainer win.
'I wanted to test out the Black Devourer Cannon, but...'
I glanced at the bio-cannon mounted on my left tail, one of the two pronged appendages. According to its tooltip, it packed enough punch to obliterate the ship outright or at least cripple it badly.
With a lucky shot at claiming a superweapon, it felt like a waste to blow it up just for a trait test. I'd save that for later.
Instead of smashing the ship, I shifted my goal to capturing it. The weapons I pulled out were two new ones.
A psyker fusion trait called Dark Veil, and my one-of-a-kind trait, Mutable Bio-Weapon.
Mutable Bio-Weapon
Mimicry is the mother of creation. Mimics physical traits of previously devoured Apex creatures to reshape the body.
Mutable body parts: Head, Arms, Right Tail, Assimilation Tendrils
Mimicry Targets (Results): Ice Horror (Head Crest), Galleron (Horns, Wings), Glacial Finned (Claws), Crystalwing (Auxiliary Organs), Skywhale (Eyes), Hellside Hornet (Arms), Gorgon Swarm (Tail)
P.S.: The notion that originals are superior is an illusion.
'Dark Veil—I used this one a lot in the game too.'
Aimorphs get a handful of free traits every time they evolve to the next stage. Dark Veil was a fusion of one of those freebies and Mind Web.
When activated, special fluids leak from pipes all over my body, enveloping me completely.
The effect? It evades enemy detection systems.
Similar to how Crystalwings dodge sensors thanks to their metal secretions.
'Though the mechanism is the total opposite.'
Unlike Crystalwings, which are invisible to electronics themselves, Dark Veil doesn't hide my form. Instead, it generates an intensely powerful magnetic field that scrambles machine recognition.
From inside that ship, they probably see me not as a monster, but as some massive energy blob or a sudden magnetic storm.
With Dark Veil deployed to nullify their sensors, I charged straight at the target. The Gigacracker's armor was far thicker than any battleship's, but it couldn't fully neutralize a full-on Adult-stage ram from me.
'That's not all I've got, of course.'
I reverted my head crest, now three to four times larger than before, to its original shape. Inside my skull, chitin and bone ground and twisted back into place, the weight on my neck easing in real time.
After escaping the space fortress, I'd created Mutable Bio-Weapon.
It was my unique trait, reshaping specific body parts by incorporating strengths from devoured creatures. Like Perfect Organism, it required body-related traits as materials—and the result was similarly versatile.
'A body-morphing trait.'
Thanks to Perfect Organism, I could transform into the combat-optimized Image of the Hunt once every 24 hours. Mutable Bio-Weapon didn't overhaul my whole body, but it let me swap out select parts.
When I'd slammed into the Gigacracker earlier, I'd used it to morph my head crest into an Ice Horror's skull shape for the impact.
Even I—who devour damn near anything—couldn't fully crunch through an Ice Horror's skull; my teeth just wouldn't penetrate. That trait perfectly replicated the feature when I morphed.
'It's solid, but there are some drawbacks.'
Two downsides hit me right away on first use.
First, morphing and reverting caused serious pain. Not enough to trigger Pain Reduction, but annoying as hell all the same.
Second, only limited parts could change, so they didn't mesh well with the rest of my body. Enlarging the head crest was great—until the strain wrecked my neck.
'Gotta research ways to mitigate that.'
The morphing pain faded with time. I peered down at the dented hull, like a wall battered by a siege ram. One more Ice Horror crest smash, and it'd punch right through.
'Nah. Let's try a different part.'
Dark Veil was still active. They had no clue what was happening outside.
This time, arms it was.
'Glacial Finned claws.'
As Mutable Bio-Weapon kicked in, my combat arms—not the wing ones—shifted rapidly.
My four fingertips itched, exoskeletons tore open, blood welled up. Hooked claws burst from the ripped muscle. In zero-g space, globs of my blood and flesh floated lazily.
Soon, my hands resembled stag beetle legs. I swung my two beefy combat arms, now tipped with massive hooked claws.
The heavy, razor-sharp talons sank into the hull. Yanking hard tore the outer plating like paper.
'Just as I thought.'
Back on Adhai's homeworld, I'd gotten lucky hunting the Glacial Finned. Abyssal Hues let me wipe out its red forest territory in one go, so no direct fight needed.
Easy to underestimate it as weak, but nope—not at all. It was an Apex predator. Sure, it controlled minions with narcotic compounds, but its own specs were top-tier.
The Glacial Finned—stag-beetle upper body, tree-root lower—boasted multiple weapons. One was its dozens of hooked claws.
Once it claimed territory, it buried those branch-like legs underground. Normally, the absurdly thick hook-claws at their tips stayed hidden, emerging only to shred intruders closing on the main body.
Charge in blind? You'd get mulched by dozens erupting from below.
'Canon says it's for digging, but...'
Right now, I was digging into a superweapon's hull instead of dirt.
Peeling back the layers like onion skin with my handy new limbs, I gripped the hole's edges with my wing arms and pried it wider. Then shoved my head inside.
'No humans nearby.'
First thing I met inside was a mountain of piled-up ore. Pyramids of minerals stacked under the red emergency lights of the storage bay.
'Definitely spacious.'
Gigacracker might be a superweapon, but at heart, it's a miner. Most of its 2km-diameter interior was ore storage. Crew quarters were minimal.
Satisfied, I pulled my head out. Turning, I spotted two familiar shapes drifting over from afar.
A griffon suin cradling a pink orb. A white dragon clutching an eight-legged spider bot. They slipped neatly into the hole I'd made.
I kept widening it even after they entered. Only when it was just big enough for my bulk did I squeeze through.
'Being too big is a hassle.'
Inside, PS-111 had begun ship takeover ops with Mother of the Sky. No. 26 and Adhai were gawking at the mineral heaps, clearly fascinated.
｢Whoa! So many round things!｣
｢Liar Odd Grade｣ ｢Nest｣ ｢Similar｣
｢These round things are pretty.｣
｢Agreed｣
I approached PS-111, who was interfacing with a storage terminal via a cable from its jaw, head bobbing.
[Can you control it?]
"Nothing is impossible for me. It may take some time, but no need to worry."
[Good. Then can you stall them from jumping to hyperspace?]
｢You're seriously gonna assimilate the Gigacracker? Is that even possible?｣
[Let's check first.]
I extended assimilation tendrils from my back and pressed them to the storage bay wall. A familiar text box popped up.
'Hmm. 16 hours.'
Seems long, but for fully claiming a 2km superweapon? Practically instant.
'Save it for later, then.'
Assimilation viable confirmed, I retracted the tendrils.
Starting it now would impose a timer, making it awkward as a trump card against strong enemies. Until I needed full assimilation, I'd leave control to PS-111.
[You can do it.]
｢For real? Feels way too broken balance-wise.｣
[Think of it as payoff for all our hard work so far.]
A quick reply to her, then I called the kids over. No. 26 and Adhai, who'd been toying with a laptop-sized diamond, approached.
[Everyone's got jobs to do.]
｢What? What?｣
｢?｣
I briefed them on the tasks for securing the ship.
Like, say, clearing out the unwelcome squatters in our new home.
｢Got it. I know what to do.｣
｢Me too｣
"I'll hack to prevent hyperspace jumps."
They'd done this before, so they got it quick. That's when Mother of the Sky raised a hand.
｢Hold up.｣
[What?]
｢The containers from the pirate ship. We gotta grab those before we go.｣
Oh yeah, I'd forgotten.
'Guess we have to.'
The ingredients from the space fortress had been a hit with everyone. This ship surely had crew rations, but probably just combat MREs.
[We'll grab 'em once we're done here.]
｢Yay...! Ahem, got it.｣
Mother of the Sky, embarrassed at her slip of excitement, looked awkward. No one else piped up after that.
'Gigacracker, huh.'
Never scored one in-game or here, so it piqued my interest.
Of course, the owners wouldn't be thrilled—but you can't please everyone.
Anyway, our new nest for the move was set.
My first home after hitting Adult: the Gigacracker.